Author: McConnel, Mark

UConn Stamford Economics Students Engaged with Community Business Leaders

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Economics students at the Stamford campus were excited to meet two executives from Slalom, Thomas Kauffman, Head of Account Management and Sales, and Saken Kulkarni, Managing Director, on Thursday, October 28, 2021. Slalom is a global consulting firm focused on strategy, technology, and business transformation. Their office for New York, New Jersey, and Southern New England is located in White Plains, NY, so they are considered to be a local business for our Stamford campus.

During their visit to ECON 3431-Financial Economics class, Mr. Kauffman and Mr. Kukarni described Slalom’s business model, answered students’ questions, and provided an overview of the project acquisition and management stages.

This was a remarkable opportunity for Economics students who, in this class, study financial management and stock valuation. They were able to get a sense of actual real-life application of their analytical skills in the business world. The conversation focused on nuances of various projects that Slalom has been undertaking.

After this class, Thomas and Saken participated in the College Fed Challenge UCONN-Stamford team meeting (ECON 3492-Practicum course). Students shared their presentation that was submitted as an entry to the competition. Our guests constructively critiqued the presentation and gave suggestions for improvement. This was an invaluable contribution to team’s preparation for the Q&A portion of the competition. Students reported that they have learned a lot during this event as Thomas and Saken shared many stories of their career in general and work at Slalom in particular.

Such formal and informal interactions with community business leaders are very important as they connect the University to business and our students to prospective employers in the area. Additionally, students gain a sense of business landscape and expand their understanding of potential careers available to Economics majors.

Early College Experience – Economics: Workshop 2021

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On Wednesday, October 27, 2021, Dr. Smirnova conducted annual professional development workshop for teachers participating in UCONN Early College Experience (ECE) Economics program. Dr. Smirnova, who is the Economics Department coordinator of this program, welcomed 34 teachers and presented the summary of NACEP (National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships) accreditation requirements. Dr. Smirnova emphasized the importance of course comparability such as student learning outcomes, syllabus, assessment, and grading standards. Dr. Smirnova proudly mentioned that University of Connecticut was the first institution in the nation that received NACEP accreditation in 1999.

Next on the agenda was an important topic of Highlighting Diversity and Inclusion with FRED® Data. This segment was presented by Dr. Diego Mendez-Carbajo, Senior Economic Education Specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Participants learned how to leverage FRED Blogs in their classes by accessing FRED Blog posts through EconLowDown and using multiple-choice questions addressing data literacy, numeracy, and econ analysis. Several examples highlighting the topics of diversity and inclusion were discussed, such as labor force participation of workers with disability and women’s employment losses due to COVID-19, among others. Dr. Mendez-Carbajo suggested possible uses of FRED Blogs such as pre-lecture independent exploration, in-class application exercises, assessment, and out-of-class assignments.

Contemporary monetary policy changes were addressed by Dr. Scott A. Wolla, Economic Education Coordinator at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. His presentation called “Monetary Policy Has Changed. Has Your Instruction?” highlighted new information about changes of primary monetary policy tools, flexible inflation targeting, and nuanced changes in the wording of the Fed’s dual mandate. Dr. Wolla carefully explained the contemporary implementation of monetary policy and shared classroom resources, which address these changes ahead of changes inside economics textbooks.

UCONN Library is a great resource for getting access to databases, reading materials, videos, and teaching our students about legitimate sources, citation styles, and research skills in general. In her presentation “UConn Library Resources for You and Your ECE Students”, Shelia A. Lafferty, Information Literacy & Social Sciences Librarian, showed various research tools as well as familiarized participants with the notion that there are “not only books” that are available at UCONN Library. She guided teachers to video recordings, data sources, academic journals, popular journals, and many other things that are part of the library collection. Ms. Lafferty created a special ECE Library Guide, which summarizes her presentation and can be accessed any time.

In conclusion, Dr. Smirnova encouraged teachers to continue perfecting their craft of teaching economics in an engaging way. To aid with that endeavor, every workshop participant will receive a complimentary electronic copy of the book “Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning” by Brown, Roediger III, and McDaniel (2014).

Thank you, Early College Experience Office, for making this professional development workshop a success!

Professor Ross has NBER Featured Paper on Foreclosure Spillovers

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Professor Steve Ross’s work (with Weiran Huang and Ashlyn Nelson) on foreclosure spillovers was the Featured Working Paper for October 4, 2021 on the National Bureau of Economic Research homepage: https://www.nber.org/

The paper “Broad Effects of Foreclosure Spillover” shows that spillovers can explain over 60% of the increase in the dispersion of foreclosure rates across neighborhoods during the foreclosure crisis.

The paper may be found at: https://www.nber.org/papers/w28851

Professor Furtado, Visiting Scientist at Harvard’s Population Center

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Professor Delia Furtado is spending the 2021-22 academic year visiting the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.

The Center brings together researchers from different disciplines across Harvard University with a common goal to “produce population-based evidence that will better inform policies needed to create healthy and resilient societies.” The Center has four main research focal areas:  Social & Environmental Determinants of Population Health, Aging Societies, Workplace & Well-Being, and Social & Family Demography.

While all of Professor Furtado’s research touches on at least one of these broad areas, during her stay at the center, she will focus on her work on the impacts of immigrant labor on long-term care markets.

Professor Ross has NBER Featured Paper on Career and Technical Education

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Professor Steve Ross’s work (with Eric Brunner and Shaun Dougherty) on the positive effects for students of attending one of Connecticut’s technical high schools was the Featured Working Paper for September 17, 2021 on the National Bureau of Economic Research homepage: https://www.nber.org/

The paper “The Effects of Career and Technical Education: Evidence from the Connecticut Technical High School System” may be found at: https://www.nber.org/papers/w28790

 

Professor Smirnova Receives Stamford Faculty Recognition Award 2021

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During the Stamford campus Convocation ceremony on September 9, 2021, Professor Smirnova received the 2021 Faculty Recognition Award given to faculty member who goes above and beyond the call of duty to serve the students and the campus. According to the Award criteria, the nominee should have a balanced and thorough record of achievement in the areas of scholarship, teaching, and service.

In addition to teaching various Economics courses, Dr. Smirnova was recognized for her work with students as academic adviser, as club advisor to the College Fed Challenge Stamford team, as Career Champion, and the organizer of several community outreach events.

During 2020-2021 academic year, Dr. Smirnova collaborated with Political Science Department, Center for Career Development, Honors Program, and UConn Foundation to bring two well-attended career-focused events to Stamford campus:

Dr. Smirnova also serves as the Economics Department liaison to the Early College Experience Program, which works with high schools across Connecticut. In 2020-2021, the Economics was the largest discipline of the ECE program, working with 68 instructors teaching 52 courses.

The scholarship of Dr. Smirnova encompasses her work on pedagogy, promotion of women in economics, and supporting students with their research aspirations. To this end in 2021, Dr. Smirnova was instrumental in sending her students to the Diverse Economics conference and the National Conference on Women in Economics WE are Resilient.

Her own research on data visualization use in the undergraduate classroom was showcased at the TeachECONference2021 organized jointly by Cornell University and the University College of London.

At the Convocation, Dr. Smirnova shared her passion for teaching and working with students and encouraged students to seek resources that will help them succeed.

Professor Prakash Joins the PLOS ONE Editorial Board

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Professor Nishith Prakash has been invited to join the editorial board of PLOS ONE 

PLOS ONE is an inclusive journal community working together to advance science for the benefit of society, now and in the future. Founded with the aim of accelerating the pace of scientific advancement and demonstrating its value, we believe all rigorous science needs to be published and discoverable, widely disseminated and freely accessible to all.

The research we publish is multidisciplinary and, often, interdisciplinary. PLOS ONE accepts research in over two hundred subject areas across science, engineering, medicine, and the related social sciences and humanities. We evaluate submitted manuscripts on the basis of methodological rigor and high ethical standards, regardless of perceived novelty. 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/journal-information

Professor Lanza Launches Economic Newsletter

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Professor Steven Lanza has launched The Connecticut Green Sheet, a short quarterly newsletter on the state’s economy (see the coverage by CT News Junkie at: https://directory.ctnewsjunkie.com/2021/05/quarterly-newsletter-analyzes-connecticut-economy/).

The Green Sheet “takes a page” from the department’s old Connecticut Economy Quarterly Review (the green is a nod to the Quarterly’s signature dark cyan accent color) and offers readers a current indicator of state economic activity (the General Drift Indicator or GDI) plus a forecast of anticipated nonfarm job changes.

Professor Agüero and Professor Zhao receive CLAS Summer Funding

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Professor Agüero and Professor Zhao have received CLAS Summer Funding for their research projects, respectively. Professor Agüero’s project will conduct an experimental intervention providing information about college scholarships to disadvantaged high school students in Peru to motivate their study efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic. The project has also received the approval of the Ministry of Education.

Professor Zhao received funding for his project titled “Health Inequality over the Life Cycle and Its Implications for Economic Well-Being”. In this project, Professor Zhao and his coauthors examine the relationship between health inequality and lifetime earnings inequality, paying close attention to the role of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) in facilitating the tradeoff between health and economic well-being.